Brothers David Wilco and Jason Drew, 45 and 51, founded Agriprotein in 2008, and spent the next eight years developing the technology and processes behind their business. Its factories use discarded food waste to feed fly larvae, which are then harvested to produce feeds which are more sustainable and cost-effective than widely-used fishmeal feeds. It opened its first 9,000 sq m facility in South Africa in 2015, and has plans to scale rapidly, with three new factories in 2018, and a target of 200 sites worldwide by 2027. In addition to $18m from undisclosed investors, it has received grants for its research from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and won an A$450,000 award from the Australian government as part of its sustainable aquaculture initiative.

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